I trust to be pardoned for this digression for the sake of the reflections which it suggests. Is it not wonderful to behold a people scattered over vast territories, from the Persian Gulph to the Atlantic Ocean, without means of communication, without printing machines, without telegraphs, without any one of the thousand appliances of modern civilization, but still speaking the same language, living in obedience to the same law, and preserving by simple tradition as well as we could do by books, the usages, the manners, and even the precepts of their ancestors? While seeing and interrogating the Arabs of Algeria, I saw and listened to the Arabs of the primitive stock. Is not this oneness, under such circumstances, a matter to create astonishment?
It may happen that after a horse's education is finished, vices will occasionally break out. The Arabs, however, pay little attention to these, because they consider that such faults proceed simply from too long a period of rest which renders them of lazy habits, or subject to caprice through excess of vitality. They correct them by work, the fatigues of war and the chace. The convenient disposition of their saddles enables them to keep their seat in spite of the obstinate "defences" of the animal, they are consequently never taken by surprise, nor frightened, and always end by mastering the animal completely. No one ever thinks of getting rid of his horse because he rears or plunges or is otherwise troublesome. On the contrary they take delight in these proofs of spirit, for the time will come when they will find their advantage in it. The Arabs have a saying that "The horseman who has not known how to train his horse, bestrides death every day."
The individual to whom they attribute the honour of having been the first to tame the horse is Ishmael, the common ancestor of all the Arabs. Their authority is these words of the Deity: "We placed horses under his dominion in order that he might ride them"—and the celebrated invocation of Ishmael himself: "Horses, night, and space are my witnesses, as well as my sabre, my pen, and paper." Always, always, religious tradition.
As to the really bad vices of biting, plunging, and kicking, they are almost unknown. In fact, all their efforts are directed to avert these. They make the horse live close to the tent, and receive him in some degree as an integral part of the family. In the midst of the women, the children, and the slaves, he can hardly fail to acquire habits of gentleness and docility. For the rest, this care shown to the horse is not merely the result of a sense of personal interest on the part of the owner: it takes its origin in religion. The Prophet has said: "The Believer who has trained his horse to shine in the holy war, the sweat, the hair, the very excrement of this animal shall be placed in the balance to his favour at the day of the last judgment."
However, notwithstanding all these bonds which attach man to the horse, notwithstanding the solidarity formed by habit, religion, and interest, no Mussulman will ever give to his horse the name of a man. Men's names have been borne by saints; it would therefore be a deadly sin, a sacrilege, in fact, to apply them to any animal, even though he should be the noblest of all. Besides, names of any kind are given solely to illustrious steeds, and only in the tents of the great. The following are some of their designations:—
Rakib, the Scout; Mansour, the Victorious; Sabeur, the Patient; Salem, the Saviour; Kamil, the Perfect; Saâd, Happiness; Maârouf, the Known; Aatik, the Noble; Sabok, the Rapid; Nadjy, the Persevering; Moubarek, the Blessed; Guetrâne, Pitch; Messaoud, the Happy; Safy, the Pure; Ghezala, the Gazelle; Naâma, the Ostrich; Mordjana, Coral; El Aroussa, the Bride; Djerada, the Locust; Ouarda, the Rose; Guemera, the Moon; Hamama, the Dove; Yakouta, the Ruby; El Guetaya, the Cutter; Aâtifa, the Docile; and Leïla, Night. Very similar names are given to slaves.
A constant practice of the Arabs, and one that must have been remarked by all who have served in Africa, is to cut the hairs of the forelock, the neck, and the tail. The rules for this seem odd to Europeans. When the colt is one year old they clip off all his hair except a tuft between the ears, on the withers, and on the dock of the tail. At two years old the operation is repeated, but this time the hair is entirely clipped off. When three years old, in the third spring, a third clipping takes place. From three to five years the hair is allowed to grow, but only that the whole may be clipped off at the termination of the fifth year. This final operation is called el halafya, and no instrument is ever again raised against the hair. It would be thought sinful to do so, as the only object could be to deceive one's brethren as to the age of the horse. After each clipping they never fail to rub the parts thus exposed with sheep's dung soaked in milk, or with Prussian blue diluted with melted butter. These applications soften the skin and thicken the hair. The practice of clipping is supported by several reasons. In the first place, it indicates, at sight, the age of a horse up to eight years, as it takes at least three years before the horse, having recovered his full length of hair, can be styled djarr—one that trails his tail along the ground. Secondly,—which is an important point in hot countries,—it compels the animal to bear patiently the stings of flies. And lastly it is supposed that the hair thus becomes thicker, longer, and more silky.
If the Arabs explain and justify this method of clipping a horse's coat until it is five years old, they do not attempt to do so for our fashion of docking a horse's tail. In their eyes it is a barbarism that has no name. It affords an inexhaustible theme for raillery. They rally us, indeed, on this subject in the most serious conjunctures. I can corroborate this assertion by an incident for the accuracy of which I personally vouch:—
In 1841 the column commanded by Marshal Bugeaud marched to Taguedempt to destroy the fort erected there at great expense by the Emir Abd-el-Kader. We were encamped on the Ouad-Krelouk one of the tributaries of the Mina. In the course of the night we were awakened by the report of a musket shot fired in the middle of the camp. Every one rushed out of his tent, hastened in the direction of the sound, and inquired what was amiss. An Arab was lying on the ground, with his thigh broken. He held in his hand a small knife with a very sharp edge and, like all professional thieves in that country, he had nothing on save a leathern girdle furnished with a pistol. The sentinel who had fired explained that having observed a bush approach, halt, and then approach still nearer, he had suspected some trickery and so fired at it at ten paces distance, just as it was close to the horses of his captain. On hearing the tale of the African veteran, his comrades in their fury were about to massacre the Arab, but the officers who were present calmed their not unnatural excitement and reported the case to the superior authorities. The Arab was carried without delay to the ambulance and had his wound dressed. On the morrow the expedition resumed its march. The fellow had received a very severe wound, and it was useless to embarrass ourselves with him. To have put him to death would only have hastened his destiny, perhaps, by a few days, without doing us any particular good, and, besides, the adventure could be turned to a better account. The Governor General decided, therefore, that he should be left upon the site of the encampment, and that a letter should be entrusted to him for the powerful tribe of the Flittas, upon whose territory we then happened to be. In this letter clear intimation was given to that hostile people that their furious dislike to us would one day be fatal to themselves; that it was useless to contend with us, that France abounded in warriors and in wealth, that Abd-el-Kader by continuing the struggle would only bring upon them unnumbered woes; and lastly that the best thing they could do, was to draw off from that man, unless they preferred to see their rich harvests destroyed and burnt before their very eyes.
At early dawn the column set out, and the rearguard was not a thousand metres from our bivouac when they observed some Arab horsemen arrive, dismount, and carry off the wounded man. On the following day we received the reply of the Flittas. It was addressed to "General Bugeaud, Kaïd of the Port of Algiers," and was couched to the following effect:—